Allies’ top security advisers discuss N. Korea trip

September 6, 2018

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) — The top national security advisers of South Korea and the United States spoke by phone Thursday to discuss the outcome of the former’s recent trip to North Korea, a White House official said.

Chung Eui-yong, director of South Korea’s presidential National Security Office, briefed his U.S. counterpart, John Bolton, following his one-day visit to Pyongyang Wednesday.

In Pyongyang, Chung met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and discussed issues related to the regime’s denuclearization as well as South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s upcoming summit with Kim.

Bolton received a “comprehensive report” of Chung’s visit, according to a White House National Security Council official.

“The two agreed to stay in touch in advance of the planned 18-20 September inter-Korean summit, and ahead of President Moon’s attendance of the U.N. General Assembly in late September, during which he and President Trump intend to meet,” the official said in response to a Yonhap query.

Kim expressed a desire to resolve the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and hostilities with the U.S. before the end of Trump’s first term in early 2021, Chung told reporters in Seoul Thursday.

The North Korean leader also asked the South Korean envoy to deliver a message to Trump, he said, without disclosing its contents.

This graphic image shows Chung Eui-yong, director of South Korea’s National Security Office, and U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton. (Yonhap)